Sport

West Ham omn the back foot against Arsenal

ARSENAL recovered from going a goal down at West Ham to move into the top five following a pulsating derby at Upton Park on in Saturday’s late kick-off.

The Hammers took a 20th-minute lead against the run of play when Mohamed Diame riffled an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. But the Gunners leveled with Oliver Giroud’s close-range finish five minutes before the break, his first goal in the Premier League.

And they sealed the win in the last 20 minutes as sub Theo Walcott and man-of-the-match Santi Cazorla helped themselves to goals against their tiring hosts.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said: “I think Arsenal severely punished the slightest mistakes we made. “We were disappointed to concede just before half-time to make it 1-1, but you could not argue about that on the possession that Arsenal had.

“I said we needed to get at the Arsenal back four more to give ourselves a chance of getting something out of the game.

“And we created chances at the right time but did not take them and got punished at the end with two goals.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger singled out Cazorla for special praise as the Spanish midfielder orchestrated the win and sealed it with a wonderful third goal.

“It is a pleasure to watch him. It’s a delight to see what he did on the pitch,” said Wenger of the 27-year-old who signed from Malaga for £15million in the summer. “I hope every young football player in England watches him.”